Demanding place in hostel, monk holds protest; MU says overage
Rajesh Balkhande, a research student from Mumbai University, recently took an ordination to become a Buddhist monk, taking on the name Bhanteji Vimamsa.
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Rajesh Balkhande sitting in protest. (Express File Photo)
Mumbai University’s Kalina campus on Friday saw an unusual protest after a Buddhist monk who is also a student there, sat on a protest in the campus seeking accomodation in the varsity hostel. Authorities have refused to give any leeway to the monk as they claim he is overage and cannot be given accomodation in the University run hostel as per rules.
Rajesh Balkhande, a research student from Mumbai University, recently took an ordination to become a Buddhist monk, taking on the name Bhanteji Vimamsa.
“I was an MU student from 2010 to 2017. I left in 2017 to become a monk… then I was already a research candidate. After returning from Myanmar, I planned to pursue Buddhist Studies in Delhi University but when I approached MU for a transfer certificate, I realised that I owe a huge pending fee since I never cancelled my PhD registration.
The varsity has allowed me to continue my PhD with regular fees, considering that I am a monk. But now the hostel administration is denying me accommodation,” said Vimamsa.
In 2010 too he was above the age-limit but was allotted a hostel, he said, as he sat in protest at the campus outside Karmaveer Bhaurao Patil boys hostel demanding accommodation.
University officials, however, said that he has crossed the upper-age limit defined for hostel accommodation allotted to research students, which is 35 years. Vimamsa is 50. But according to Vimamsa, being a monk, he has no other option but seeking a hostel room as he has no other place to stay.|
The university hostel accommodation generally follows a thorough process of allotment, alongside the admission season of every academic year. Vimamsa’s protest, in the middle of the academic year, has become a spectacle on the varsity’s Kalina campus, where he is pursuing PhD in Marathi.
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